2 The good obtain favor from the Lord,
but those who devise evil he condemns.
3 No one finds security by wickedness,
but the root of the righteous will never be moved.
19 Truthful lips endure forever,
but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.
20 Deceit is in the mind of those who plan evil,
but those who counsel peace have joy.
21 No harm happens to the righteous,
but the wicked are filled with trouble.
22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,
but those who act faithfully are his delight. [Proverbs 12:2-3, 19-22, NRSV]
The Olympic Spirit, declared by the International Olympic Committee, reads:
- The mission of Olympic Spiritis “to build a peaceful and better world in the Olympic Spirit which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.
- Olympic Spiritstrives to inspire and motivate the youth of the world to be the best they can be through educational and entertaining interactive challenges.
- Olympic Spiritseeks to instill and develop the values and ideals of Olympism in those who visit and to promote tolerance and understanding in these increasingly troubled times in which we live, to make our world a more peaceful place.”
In the real world, however, Olympic glories spill into national glories and are perceived as a field worthy of attention in order to protect national interests. For geopolitical reasons, the America-led West as a declining hegemonic power is hell-bent on curtailing China as the rising superpower and influence. In every field of human activity, they will ferociously attempt to foil Chinese success, by any means possible, legal or otherwise, morally or immorally. The field of sports is no exception.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, the China Men’s Swimming Team upended the American pool dominance. In sound and fury the America-led West at once dug in against the Chinese swimmers who brought them insufferable defeat. Before he even got out of the pool, doping allegations were already insinuated against Pan Zhanle (潘展乐), the new world swimming sensation in the young China Team. Our previous post documented a bit of that.
“Prejudice” hardly describes what the Americans have been doing all along. Far more sinister is their infamous Tanya Harding strategy of crippling the opposition at the kneecap, while hiding their own misdeeds.
[1] Create False Narratives to Accuse the Competitors
What the Western China-haters do is create an alternative explanation to smear the Chinese gold medalists. The easiest narrative, of course, is doping, on which they are evidently the most qualified to speak from ample records of their own doping history.
On the propensity of the West to create alternative, but false, narratives to mislead the world for their own perceived gains, listen to what the straight-talking, world renowned American economist, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, said in an interview on a different matter [Covid-19 virus origin] but where his insight is clearly applicable here as well:
- “This is how [the American] government works: it creates stories. It doesn’t search for the truth. It doesn’t aim for the truth. It doesn’t tell the truth. It creates stories and for weird understandable reasons that Noam Chomsky and others have talked about for decades, the big media go along with these stories. But they are very dangerous because these are stories; this is not real investigation or reality.”[1]
Professional and critical observers are clear-eyed about the typical American false-information machine at work. They have made it known that they are quite sick of the trouble-making Americans. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) initiated by the International Olympic Committee, for instance, is on record telling the BBC that certain individuals in the US are attempting to score political points purely on the basis that the athletes in question are Chinese.
- “When members of Congress and senators are inserting themselves into the largely technical world of anti-doping, it ceases to be about scientific and legal analysis and it drifts into the political realm instead of adhering to the values of the Olympic Games as a form of honest International competition. US politicians have chosen to make the Games yet another political arena to sow division and to discredit Chinese achievements.” [2]
In fabricating and spreading fake-information, the USA is second to none. They are extremely capable of creating a false narrative (think of their triple pet topics on Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Taiwan where China is concerned) and biting on it like American pit bulls and would not let go. It does not seem to bother them that they look stupid and hypocritical.
Anyone familiar with the background is sick of the mad American pit bull tactic in (a) bringing up the conclusively settled 2021 non-doping incident in the hope of having Chinese swimmers disqualified, (b) using it to create a talking-point that challenges the integrity of the Chinese Team, and (c) as a basis to demand and justify repeated and oppressive doping-tests on the Chinese swimmers so as to unsettle them and reduce their competitiveness. Yet, they knew well:
- In June 2021, the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) took the initiative to inform WADA of its decision clearing 23 Chinese swimmers who were inadvertently exposed to traces of a banned substance through food contamination at the hotel where they stayed during a swimming competition. Over a period of several weeks, WADA carried out exhaustive factual analysis and consulted with independent scientific experts to test the contamination theory. In the end, WADA cleared the 23 swimmers and upheld their innocence.
- Still, in April 2023, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) emailed WADA about this case being deliberately “hidden” by the Chinese. This was a blatant lie, as the matter was first decided and reported by CHINADA, and then thoroughly reviewed by both WADA and World Aquatics. All this had been concluded nearly two years prior. In this, as in a previous US complaint against the Chinese which was also based on unsubstantiated allegation of doping and cover-ups, WADA offered to reassess the situation if USADA provided any evidence at all, which it did not. WADA also offered to interview the USADA alleged “source of information” but this offer was not taken up. [3]
The incredible thing about this US overworked spin is that, biting it like a pit bull and would not let go, the Americans would keep pushing a bizarre conspiracy theory that was pathetically easy to debunk. It has been remarked somewhere: “Barbarism always comes clothed in moral righteousness.” Nothing new there. Recall George Bush, Jr. who dared call Saddam Hussein and Iraq “the axis of evil” when Bush himself and the USA, together with their Western cohorts, truly manifested themselves as the real evil of the world for the inhuman demolition of Iraq and much of her ancient culture, leaving a beautiful country extremely ravaged and her people extremely impoverished for generations to come. The same script was repeated by Obama against Gaddafi and Syria. It was a script solidly embedded in the barbaric history of the American bombing of Vietnam. Truly, evil knows no bounds and it wears the American flag.
[2] Create Schemes to Hide Own Doping
The American-led western society seems to have a great deal of difficulty determining what the truth is. Or, would it be more accurate to say that in fact, they know the truth only too well but, too horrified by the thought of losing their imaginary “exceptionalism” and “unassailable” dominance, have acted ferociously in preservation of their imagination upon the simple expedience that “the ends justify the means”? So whenever they embrace denialism, as they did in the face of Pan Zhanle’s terrific record-smashing feats, be warned that they are onto something sinister.
- First, they are laying the groundwork for challenging the legitimacy of the opponents’ medals, as they did to Pan Zhanle, or at least to create the impression of doubtful legitimacy that puts a permanent mark on the victorious opponent’s good name.
- Second, they are hiding the fact that they put competitors found guilty of using banned substances into international races. WADA had expressed shock at the violation of rules.
- Third, they are diverting attention away from their covert overuse of medical therapeutic exemption passes to legally allow their athletes to take prohibited substances. In 2015 for example, a stunning exposure showed that 63% of exemption passes went to just three countries – the US, Australia, and France. On the list of famous names using exemption passes for ADHD or asthma or insomnia, you will find Simone Biles, the multiple gold medalist in gymnastics. Fancy how many Western asthmatic gold medalists there are at the Olympics!
Conclusion: WADA says US, not China, is guilty of doping athletes.[4]
All told, you are forgiven for saying “good job” to the over-tested Chinese swimmers for breaking the U.S. dominance in the pool without suffering from asthma or their faces turning purple at the end of each race (check out this strange phenomenon on American swimmers, and the “duck-test”).
So let not the West fool you on the doping of athletes. Their own regular, business as usual, doping has been amply documented over the last few decades, together with details of how doping actually works. All these are easily accessible through Google and Youtube search.[5]
[3] Check out the Statistics
Last year, Pan underwent 29 tests, and not once did he test positive. This year, from May to July, he had 21 tests, and again, not a single positive result. On competition day, he had 2 in-competition tests! All clear. You may want to check if the Americans and Australians were spared such harassment.
Why is the US behaving disgracefully in smearing the Chinese swimming gold medals? They refused to shake hands with Pan, calling him a doping cheat. And regardless of the 7 times a day testing for 3 days of the Chinese athletes prior to the competition to stop them from having proper rest (midnight, early morning, morning, afternoon, late afternoon, evening, etc) they are now demanding that court hearings be held on the Chinese swimmers after the Olympics. USA has 600% more drug violations than China (USA 1.2%, China 0.2%) yet USA is 35% less tested than China (USA 6,782 samples, China 19,228 samples). In reality, the percentage is far larger as the US has a much bigger contingent than the Chinese.
WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) ANTI-DOPING TESTING FIGURES IN SELECTED COUNTRIES – Violations 2022
India : 3.2% (Samples: 3,865)
South Africa: 2.9% (Samples: 2,033)
Kazakhstan: 1.9% (Samples: 2,174)
Mexico: 1.4% (Samples: 2,252)
USA: 1.2% (Samples: 6,782)
Canada: 1.1% (Samples: 3,846)
Russia: 0.8% (Samples: 10,186)
Germany: 0.3% (Samples: 13,653)
Japan: 0.2% (Samples: 5,706)
China: 0.2% (Samples: 19,228).
[4] The Spirit of the Maligned Young Chinese Swimming Team
(a) Simple and Direct Replies, in Typical Pan-Style
It is rather interesting how Pan, who just turned 20, replied to various questions posed by journalists.
- To a question on his reaction to some in the West who reacted very negatively to his stunning victories, he said: “We won. We have taken them all down. We are not the ones who are unhappy. It’s others who are unhappy.”
- Asked about wave-disturbances experienced by swimmers in close proximity, he replied: “If you swim fast enough, you don’t get waves. The waves are behind you.”
- For an athlete who really seeks to excel, there are three things you must do: you train, you train, you train. So when asked about the doping issue, Pan said: “Successful people use their strength to solve problems. They neither place blames against heaven nor on humans.”
(b) How Do the Chinese Swimming Team Cope with All This Unfair Treatment?
Now back in China after the Paris Games, “Do you feel aggrieved psychologically?” asked the seasoned interviewer in a CCTV exclusive in-depth interview with Pan.
- Pan: “Certainly, because I know I am innocent. All my doping tests, including last year, and from May to July this year, a total of more than 50 times, are all negative. And everything we eat and drink is strictly controlled, under a strict screening. There is no illegal drug use, and no misuse of drugs.”
“What can you do to change their prejudices?”
- Pan: “If you want to break their prejudices, the first thing you need to do is to be yourself and do well what you have taken on to do. Make sure you’re innocent. The second is to hit them back with your achievements.”[6]
In other words, he is saying: let your game to the talking, just work hard, and take them down.
There is an interesting little anecdote reported on Pan Zhanle:
- In 2022, American swimming coach Mark Schubert suggested during a stint working in China that Pan switch to the individual medley, on the basis that Chinese swimmers were unlikely to beat those of other nations as 100m freestyle specialists. His verdict became a catalyst that precipitated Pan’s success. “I’m rebellious by nature,” Pan replied to Schubert after Doha, showing him his gold medal. “The more others doubt my abilities, the more determined I am to prove them wrong.”
[5] A Positive Note
On the anti-Beijing hysteria and the unhinged attack on China’s Olympic success, netizens say things like “discrimination is harder to break than world records”, “double standards is the norm of the West”, “the hypocrisy and double standards is outrageous”, “an all-time low in the West sportsmanship”, “a historic win and incredible athlete’s image is being tarnished by racist rumours”, “all the Asians and Africans saw this and they will remember and learn”. So Fernando Munoz Bernal, an author and vlogger, observes something positive that comes out of this:
True enough, a punchline from Pan who felt slighted before the race reads: “Today I beat them all.”
In another development, after the Olympics, it soon became evident that the swimming world began to pick up the positive vibes from Pan the first-time Olympian, in order to benefit from his creative skills. Experts have embarked on dissecting his swimming style and analysing every detail of his art – his dive, his hand strokes, his leg kicks and so on. They marvel at his power and strength and how he turns ordinary moves into something extraordinary. The Olympic motto is ‘Citius-Altius-Fortius’, three Latin words which translate to ‘Faster-Higher-Stronger’ in English. There is a growing enthusiasm now that the hard work Pan puts into his training, and the creative improvements he introduced to freestyle swimming, will contribute to increasingly faster time in the pool for generations to come. That’s a truly stunning Olympic achievement.
References:
[1] “Jeffrey Sachs: US biotech cartel behind Covid origins and cover-up” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=morj-3rdWwM&t=16s.
[2] “The TRUTH About Chinese Olympic Swimmers Revealed!” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPo3HU54j9o
[3] “WADA statement on case of 23 swimmers from China”, at https://www.wada-ama.org/en/news/wada-statement-case-23-swimmers-china
[4] “PLOT TWIST: Anti-drug agency says US, not China, guilty of doping athletes” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0WF1Tj5-O4&t=77s
[5] A random selection: “Will the real Olympic cheats please stand up” at https://johnmenadue.com/will-the-real-olympic-cheats-please-stand-up/; “Doping Exposed: The Hidden Network Fuelling the Olympics” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcdUdP25Y9Q; PanZhanLe 100mt World RECORD met with RACISM? at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaydMpQlYu8; USADA CEO Caught Red-Handed Lying about Athletes Undercover Tactics: Commentary at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZDyfBFyT_k.
[6] “[潘展乐央视专访] Exclusive Interview with Pan Zhanle – Freestyle Gold Medallist at the 2024 Paris Olympics” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nrPxJCOfSE.
Copyright © Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, September 2024. All rights reserved.
To comment, email jeffangiegoh@gmail.com.